Interim Business Case and related Cabinet papers

The Ministry has published the documents listed below because of the high level of public interest in the Greater Christchurch Education Renewal and the Ministry’s commitment to transparency.

At the time of the announcement of the proposals for the future of Christchurch education provision, and in the follow up with each of the schools directly affected, all the information considered material to an effective consultation process was released.

The interim Business Case was not released because it is indicative and a more detailed Business Case is to be provided to Ministers.

The documents are listed below and include key Cabinet papers and the interim Greater Christchurch Education Renewal Programme Business Case (the interim Business Case). This business case was developed with the assistance of Aurecon.

Note that there is an explanation about why a document has been edited or changed (redacted).

Withheld information

Some information has been deleted under the Official Information Act:

Section 9(2)(g)(i) to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions.

Section 9(2)(j) to enable the Ministry to carry out negotiations without prejudice or disadvantage.

Section 9(2)(f)(iv) to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.

Differing information between documents

There are some differences between preferred options in the interim Business Case and the proposals made on 13 September. That’s because:

not all clusters were covered by the business case

no formal proposal has been made for secondary school provision as the Ministry is waiting for more geotechnical information.

A copy of the proposal for each cluster is attached at the end of the interim Business Case for reference.

More information still to come

In some cases the information is still to be gathered before any future proposals can be considered. For example, the Ministry is still awaiting geotechnical information related to some schools where no proposals have yet been announced.

Figures shown in the interim Business Case represent estimates as of July 2012 and as further infrastructure related costing information is obtained through detailed engineering evaluations, condition assessment updates, and weather-tightness investigations, the estimates have been and will be updated.